Here are some key takeaways from the chat and below is a compiled transcript. I’m interested to hear your insights. Do you agree with these guests’ point of views? How does your organization engage with its employees? Are there other approaches perhaps not covered in today’s chat? Let’s keep the conversation going by sharing additional perspectives.

Key Takeaways

Make sharing content through social media channels as easy as possible for employees.

Create guidelines and policies and provide training to employees, creating a comfortable and safe environment to join the social conversation.

Define different types of opportunities and content-sharing that suits employees’ communication preferences and style.

Leverage executive sponsors to enable employees to participate in the social stream.

Design incentives such as gaming badges, recognitions, and other opportunities to motivate employees to participate more in social media.

September Twitter Chat

And mark your calendars for next month’s Let’s Chat! #Ciscosmt Twitter chat, taking place on Thursday, September 26th from 9-10 a.m. PT. Stay tuned for more details by following the Cisco Digital and Social blog and the #Ciscosmt hashtag!

Social media is quickly becoming ubiquitous in our lives — not only giving us news on our friends, but news of the day. We found out all about the recent birth of the newest heir to the British throne on social.

We’re also using social media to connect with current and potential customers. It’s no longer a question of should companies use it… but how. How does a business reach who it wants to reach, stay relevant, listen to what they’re saying, and help them influence others? Read More »

The ins and outs of how to use social media effectively for on- and offline events can be overwhelming. What technologies do we use…how do we integrate social media, mobile, physical and virtual environments…and how do we make it a meaningful experience for participants? It’s a lot to think about before moving forward.

The good news is that a panel of distinguished experts (from left to right: Petra Neiger, Senior Manager, Digital and Social Media Marketing, Cisco (@Petra1400), Matt Rozen, Group manager Corporate Social Media, Adobe (@mattyroze), Kathleen Mudge, Social Media Program Manager, Cisco (@KathleenMudge), and Brian Ellefritz, Vice President, Global Social Media, SAP (@BrianEllefritz)) spent some time with us today and helped to clarify all of these moving parts. Check out the Let’s Chat! #Ciscosmt Series: Social Media for Events USTREAM broadcast replay for all of the valuable best practices and tips. And in the meantime, here are a few key tweet takeaways I gathered from the panelists and participants during the session:

Interesting Statistics:

Key social media for events statistics, from 2012 Amiando Social Media & Events Report, and shared during July 31st Let’s Chat! #Ciscosmt Series USTREAM broadcast.

Upcoming #Ciscosmt Twitter Chat:

Join us for the next installment of the #Ciscosmt Series on Tuesday, August 20th from 9-10 a.m. PT. During this Twitter chat, we’ll focus the conversation around engaging employees in social media participation. Here are some of the key topics we are working on for this chat. Are there others you want to cover as well?

Steps to develop a culture of sharing for employees

Content types that resonate for teams to engage in social sharing

Biggest challenges that employees face in social participation for the brand

Recognizing and rewarding teams for participation

Gamification aspects of sharing strategy

Stay tuned for more details by following the Cisco Social blog and the #Ciscosmt hashtag!

As final preparations are underway for the July 31st (9am PT) Let’s Chat! #Ciscosmt Training Series USTREAM broadcast, let’s get the conversation going early! Are there certain social media examples used for on- and offline events that stick out in your mind? What made them great or perhaps ideas to avoid? And what was used to enhance the participants’ experience?

Within my last post on this topic, I mentioned social media is a perfect channel to help on- and offline audiences engage in events and activities. Audiences are able to share their own insights rather than just hearing a speaker present, exchange ideas and connect with others, and add to the overall collaborative experience.

Cisco Live 2013 (Orlando)

Here are some tips to keep in mind when leveraging social media for on- and offline events:

Audiences: use social media to reach new audience segments for an event. After defining the audience in the overall planning stages and listening to their care-abouts, find ways to involve them in different aspects. E.g., polls to pinpoint most popular topic ideas, word-of-mouth opportunities to spread the word, VIP activities for top influencers, and live tweeting to keep engagement going.

Duration: leverage social media on an ongoing basis and draw attention to events and activities along the way, as part of the overall ongoing strategy. Depending on the type of event, promotions may begin a few months prior to just 3 weeks. E.g., a large hosted type of event or ongoing online series may require ongoing promotions year-round. Activities such as participating in another organization’s event or a webcast type of activity, may only require promotions 3-6 weeks in advance. Event-specific social media efforts should taper off within 1-2 weeks afterwards, folding back into the regular ongoing efforts.

SEO: include popular tags, Cisco and/or third-party hashtags, and keywords can greatly increase visibility for an event or activity. Take time to research these tags prior to beginning event-related social media efforts, maximizing efforts and reaching the appropriate audiences.

Monitoring and Measuring: create a program-specific listening and respond plan as part of the overall listening strategy. Since on- and offline events are happening in real-time, planning teams need to monitor constantly and handle responses in a timely manner. And when it comes to measurement, its best to focus on quantitative (number of responses, reach, etc.) and qualitative metrics (sentiment, influencers, etc.). These efforts can help teams benchmark and better understand areas of success and ways they can continue to improve strategies moving forward. (Check out this Cisco Live 2013 Orlando Listening Hub recap blog post, by Cisco’s Davythe Dicochea, for additional insights.)

Integration: tap into existing brand and third party accounts whenever possible rather than creating new ones. It will help continue more meaningful engagements with audience members, tap into existing and established channels, and continue to build reputation and trust among interested parties. Look for the most appropriate accounts and create/use content that relates to the audience’s care-abouts within each channel.

Activities: create a mix of posts, tweets, images, videos, traditional marketing, and activities to provide a full customer journey. As these assets and communications are developed or leveraged, find ways to keep the audience members engaged, focusing on their care-abouts. And just as importantly, make it fun as they get ready to participate in an event, engage with them during the event, and help the audience be the heroes of their organizations afterwards by providing helpful follow-up resources.

Experimentation: pilot new ideas to better understand how innovations or strategies can be implemented for future tactics and increased audience participation. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. This is part of the process and can often lead to even more innovative approaches.

Messaging: use social media to create 2-way dialogues for on- and offline events rather than just broadcasting upcoming activities. Communications should include a balance of consistency and variety to keep conversations fresh and relevant. And be sure to customize the messages by social media channel, taking into consideration format and communication best practices. Lastly, make it easy of audience members to share and follow information by incorporating social media channel links in all communication vehicles.

How do you turn social media on its head and make it unique for your initiatives? I’m always fascinated to see new approaches to using social media and get inspired by different organizations’ creativity. From specific initiatives to drive more traffic and awareness (like American Express’ Passion Project) to getting executives involved (like HubSpot’s CEO Manager Twitter for a Day) to countless other examples in sports, entertainment, B2B, and B2C, creativity is a key factor in the success of our efforts.

Let’s Chat! #Ciscosmt Series

Social media is especially intriguing when it comes to the way it can be used for on- and offline events. (E.g., webcasts, virtual environments, onsite conferences and meetings, Twitter chats, etc.) Based on the nature of these types of activities, social media is a strong communication channel to pilot new ideas, convert more traditional approaches to 2-way engagements, and create real-time impact.

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